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Standard 3D printing equipment was the key in overcoming the challenges of interfacing electronic and biological materials as Princeton researchers for the first time printed functional ears. The printer was able to create complex contours -- a difficult task with traditional scaffolding -- as it integrated silver nanoparticles and tissue.

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Using mechanically sintered gallium-indium nanoparticles, researchers at Purdue University have successfully printed flexible metal objects. The key is using ultrasound to produce metal nanoparticles from a mix of liquid metal alloy and a nonmetallic solvent.

A polymer foam that can be shaped with warm saline and then hardens, created by Texas A&M Department of Biomedical Engineering associate professor Melissa Grunlan, holds the potential to fill bone defects by forming a scaffold for new bone tissue. The development holds particular promise for facial applications, where bone contours are irregular and complex.

A trachea splint for a 2-month-old is among the developments that illustrates the potential for 3D printing in the medical field. A Princeton project blended electronics with biological tissue to create a functional ear, and an affordable printed prosthetic hand was developed in the U.K.

3D printing and the use of computer-controlled thermoplastics and organic inks to develop biological matter are being developed for a wide range of uses in medicine. Recent projects leveraging the technology include a skull patch printed out of polyetherketoneketone material, a machine being developed by a Wake Forest researcher that can print skin straight onto a burn victim and a bioprinter designed by a University of Nottingham expert that can create a dissolving scaffold upon which adult stem cells can be placed to grow new bone tissue.

Thanks to the help of tiny nanoparticles, scientists have developed a means for delivering just the right amount of a bee toxin to destroy cancer cells. Without the so-called "nanobees," the toxin, melittin, would cause substantial damage to red blood cells and normal tissues, and the research joins two cancer treatments using nanoparticles that have already been approved.